Fried Rice - Easy

This recipe is easy because you can use leftover rice and turn it into its own dish, which is useful if the original meal’s protein is all gone. If you open your fridge and you find last night’s rice, a couple eggs, soy sauce, and either a frozen veggie mix or some baby carrots and peas or edamame, you can make this dish in 5 minutes of cooking time. And if they’re all leftovers, there’s literally no prep time.

Ingredients:

   

1 c white rice*

2 c water*

*OR leftover rice from the fridge.

Serving size: Use the same ratio of 1:2 rice to water and adjust for more servings. Use about ½ cup of uncooked rice and 1 c water per person. (3 people: 1½ c rice, 3 c water). If you really like rice, use a bigger serving size. Do what you want.

2 T cooking oil

2 eggs

Soy sauce (2-3 Tbsp. or more to taste)

Sesame oil, optional

Lime slices, optional

And a handful of each of the following:

Frozen peas

Baby carrots, chopped

Edamame, optional

Any other small veggies

Use 2 large saucepans and a wok or frying pan.


Directions:

If you didn’t have leftover rice, begin with making your own. Pour the 1 cup of rice and the 2 cups of water into a saucepan and heat on the stove until boiling. When it boils, reduce to low heat, cover, and let simmer. (You can begin cooking your veggies now, while the rice is steaming.) After 15-18 minutes, check to make sure the rice has absorbed all the water. Remove from heat and keep covered until ready for use.

To cook the peas, carrots, and edamame (and any other small veggies you want to cook, which could include baby corn, corn, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, etc.), first boil a large saucepan of water. If you prefer some veggies steamed (edamame comes in a steaming bag that you can microwave to steam them, for example), you can cook those separately. Pour the frozen peas and chopped baby carrots into the boiling water and boil these for 3-5 minutes, taking care to stop before they get too soft. Drain the veggies in the sink.

While the veggies are boiling, you can crack the 2 eggs into a bowl and scramble them to mix the whites and yolks, unless you want the white and yellow colors to be more visible in your fried rice. (Fresh or farm eggs can have a much brighter orange color, sometimes that looks weird in fried rice.)

Also fluff your rice with a fork. This will help it come out of your saucepan into the wok while cooking.

Here’s where it all comes together. Make sure everything is ready to go in: veggies, rice (fluffed), scrambled eggs, and soy sauce and optional sesame oil. 

At this point, take out a large wok or your deepest frying pan. Pour in the 2 Tbsp. of oil and heat on medium. Add the veggies to the oil and toss with a large spoon. After about 30 seconds, take the scrambled eggs and pour them into the veggies, stirring immediately to coat the veggies and cook them together. (The longer you wait to stir, the larger your egg chunks will be in the rice.)

Quickly mix in the rice. If you used leftover rice from the fridge, separate the chunks with a fork before throwing it into the pan, to cook it more evenly. Mix them all together, and then start drizzling soy sauce in 1-Tbsp-sized amounts, and then mix together. Don’t put in too much soy sauce so that the rice turns brown. It should take on some color from the soy sauce, but it’ll be way too salty if you pour on more than 2-3 tablespoons’ worth. (If you add too much soy sauce, you can fix it by adding more rice, if you have any.)

After the soy sauce is mixed in so that all the rice is a uniform color, you can add sesame oil. Don’t put in too much beyond a tablespoon, this just adds some flavor. You don’t need it, unless you really like sesame oil.

At this point, the fried rice is done, and you just need to serve it hot. If you’re not ready to eat, you can turn off the stove and let it sit with the lid on the pan. 2 minutes before serving time, you can turn the heat back on medium and toss the fried rice until it’s heated up again.

Cooking tips:

      I always cook a new recipe with some loud music. Any recipe, really. It helps me have fun and relax. If I mess up, (I accidentally threw the veggies into water before it was boiling, and had to keep checking it to see if they were done or not because I’d cooked them against the directions) I just remember that I’m young and I haven’t made this before, so I don’t have to expect myself to get it perfect the first time. Hopefully my lengthy recipe helped anyone who has never made fried rice before who doesn’t know what they’re doing.

Serving ideas:

Serve with a bowl of lime slices to squeeze onto the rice. It adds a really nice citrus taste.

Let guests add extra soy sauce to the rice if they want it to be more salty. 

TLDR [Too long, didn’t read] version of recipe can be found on another website.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/79543/fried-rice-restaurant-style/ is a good recipe.